To Live For, To Die For
by Bonkers4Reid
Summary: Set pre-series. It's Reid-centric, though it doesn't appear so in early chapters. Dr. Spencer Reid is taken hostage during one of his first cases. Reid starts having romantic feelings towards another hostage *OC*. My FIRST EVER story! Rated T for language
1. Prologue: Welcome

_I made this prologue to explain the semi-confusing timeline I've created for this story and to introduce some original characters. _

_Please remember that this is my first ever story! So if you'd like to give it a review I would really appreciate the feedback. But please be courteous because I'm new, constructive critisism is fine, but bashing me will only make me hate you!_

_I want to apologise in advance in case I inadventantly copy anything you have written or material you recognise as someone else's. I did not copy anyone's work intentionally, but it could happen. I can't possibly read everyone's work!_

_Oh yeah, I _sadly _don't own Criminal Minds._

_A very big thank you goes out to _**MissdaVinci77 and peace4people.**_ Check them out if you get the chance!_

* * *

"Pray that your loneliness may spur you into finding something to live for, great enough to die for." -Dag Hammarskjold

* * *

First of all I want to thank you for checking out my story. This is my first-ever attempt at a Fan Fiction.

To Live For, To Die For is set pre-series. It takes place before the six agents were killed in Boston.

The series regulars featured in this story are Gideon, Hotch, Morgan, Garcia, and Reid. JJ isn't the BAU's liaison yet at this point, so unfortunately she isn't in this story. Elle Greenaway didn't join the BAU until the second episode, "Compulsion"; therefore Elle isn't in this story either.

I've created four BAU agents. They will be killed by Adrian Bale in Boston along with two other (unnamed) non-BAU F.B.I. agents. So here's a little synopsis of each of the new characters.

Brandie Wilson is a 40 year old wife and mother of 2. Her husband John is also an F.B.I. agent, in the counter-terrorism department. The Wilsons have a 9 year old son named Max and a 5 year old daughter named Megan. Brandie is a red-head with a short pixie-style haircut. She is strong, confident, and is sometimes known to be a bit brash.

Jared Matthews is a 25 year old southern gentleman, accent included! His brown hair is cut short, in a military style. Matthews double majored in criminal justice & psychology in college. He joined the army after college, and was deployed to the Middle East during first few months of Operation Iraqi Freedom as a sniper. In November of 2003, he was shot and almost died, and was discharged. After recovering he joined the F.B.I. He pulled some strings and got a job in the BAU in February, a few months before Spencer joined the team. Matthews sticks to his military lifestyle: he's an early riser, he's very neat, and he always obeys orders.

Ben Harper is a 28 year old with a very laid back demeanor. Harper has his Master's Degree in criminology. In high school, Ben was a model student; he had a 4.0 G.P.A., he played soccer and broke track records. Ben is kind and thoughtful, and he has shaggy dirty-blonde hair. He is newly engaged to Amy Smith, a special ed. teacher, she considers herself the luckiest girl in the world because Ben is 'the perfect man.'

Miguel Rodriguez is 31. His parents have a romantic story. They were both Colombian immigrants, who met while going to college in Florida. It was love at first sight and within two years they were married and had twin sons: Miguel and Mateo. They grew up well-off, going to a private school. The boys grew up bilingual. Mateo was now married and had three kids of his own. Miguel's story wasn't as romantic; at age 18, he got his girlfriend Maria Florez pregnant. He still was able to go to college, but he had to work endless nights to provide for Maria and their daughter Jasmine. Miguel eventually made it to the C.I.A., but Maria was fed up with him always being gone at work so they broke up. Miguel transferred to the F.B.I. and eventually joined the BAU in 2000. Rodriguez only gets to see Jasmine (now in the 7th grade) when they aren't away on cases. He feels she needs more of a fatherly influence as she seems to be growing up too fast for his liking. He wants to be there more for his daughter, but he can't just let his job fall by the wayside, as being in the BAU is a huge accomplishment for someone who was a teenage parent.

(So those four will die in Boston, leaving their children and significant others behind. It's sad that I've created people who will lose loved ones, but I couldn't resist creating families for these characters because the current BAU team seems lonely. JJ and Hotch are the only ones with children, and no one is married!)

So Spencer is new to the BAU, but this isn't his first case. He is very inexperienced and he sometimes has a hard time controlling his anxiety. Other BAU members, especially Morgan, will sometimes tease him, and it affects Reid more than they realize.

The story revolves around a case in which several women have gone missing in and around Evansville, IN. I have been there before, but I'm not that familiar with its geography, so let me know if you find some mistakes involving the setting.

The first few chapters are centered on the case and Reid really isn't as highlighted as some of you might have hoped he would be. But fret not! Later chapters will be very Reid-centric.

Each chapter begins and ends with a quote relating to what's going on in the story.

Again thank you for reading my first ever story. Feedback is much appreciated!


	2. Abduction

"Whenever evil befalls us, we ought to ask ourselves, after the first suffering, how we can turn it into good. So shall we take occasion, from one bitter root, to raise perhaps many flowers." -Leigh Hunt

* * *

She looked at the clock again. 9 o'clock.

'Damn. Still an hour until we close and I can go home.' she thought.

Sophia Martin was a nineteen year old college student/convenience store clerk. After 8 PM the store only had two employees working. Tonight it was Sophia at the register and Ryan Boster, who stocked the shelves, mopped the floors, and did other odd jobs around the small store.

"Hey Soph!" yelled Ryan. She cringed, Sophia didn't like her name being shortened, she thought it sounded juvenile. "I'm gonna be out back trying to get the graffiti off the wall."

"Ok." she called back. 'Good, stay outta my way you creep!' she thought. Sophia was not amused by the pranks Ryan was always pulling on her and the other daytime employees.

A man walked into the store, causing bells to chime. "Hello, welcome to…" she started. The man was very large and tall and he was wearing a ski mask to obscure his face. 'Shit, he's here to rob the store.' Sophia thought.

Sophia shouted for Ryan, but he was outside and there was no way that he would ever be able to hear her. The man in the mask ran to the counter. Sophia opened the register. "Please, just take the money. You don't need to hurt me." she begged.

The man wasn't interested in the cash. He lunged at the young cashier. He hit her viciously over the head with a big, heavy looking socket wrench that he had had concealed behind his back. Sophia was unconscious instantly.

This was not a random robbery. It wasn't a robbery at all, he didn't take any money. It was abduction. Unbeknownst to Sophia, she was the fifth woman to be kidnapped by this man, Charlie Marshall.

ILoveCriminalMinds!ILoveCriminalMinds!ILoveCriminalMinds!ILoveCriminalMinds!

Jason Gideon, Derek Morgan, Spencer Reid, Brandie Wilson, Jared Matthews, Ben Harper, and Miguel Rodriguez were sitting in the BAU conference room at the FBI building in Quantico, VA. Gideon's second-in-command, Aaron Hotchner was standing in front of the team announcing that they were being called on a case.

"We're going to Evansville, IN. The local authorities have asked us to come because over the last six weeks five women have gone missing."

"How can we be sure the women haven't left on their own accord?" asked Ben.

Gideon answered, "The women are all brunette, Caucasian, and petite. They disappeared during their normal routine activities. One was at work, another was running weekly errands."

Hotch cut in, "Their cars were still parked where they were last seen. Three of the women are from the Evansville area but one went missing in a small town in Illinois near the Indiana border and another from nearby Kentucky. The latest woman to be abducted is Sophia Martin. He took her while she was working last night. We have a video from the store's security camera."

They watched the footage of the masked assailant hitting the college student and carrying her out of the store.

"Was she the only person working there at the time?" asked Matthews.

"There was a stock boy working at the time of the abduction, but he was outside behind the store, completely unaware of the kidnapping that took place inside." answered Hotch.

Reid piped up, "Did Evansville police interview him, it's possible he was behind this."

"Evansville P.D. already cleared him. The video showed that our unsub is a large, powerful man, Ryan Boster has a much slighter frame. He's not our guy." replied Gideon.

"We should have our Technical Analyst go over this video to see if we can get his height and approximate weight." said Hotch.

"I'll let Garcia know now." said Morgan as he walked out of the room to go talk with the **supreme genius**.

Brandie leaned forward, "So have any of the women been recovered?"

"As of this morning when I talked with the detective in charge, no bodies have been found and there have been no ransom demands." answered Gideon.

"So we should work this assuming that the women are still alive. Wheels up in 30." finished Hotch

* * *

"While there's life, there's hope." -Marcus Tullius Cicero

_Please Review!_


	3. Victimology

_This chapter has more Reid (not a whole lot, but you can at least see what's going on in his super massive, sexy noggin!) I also included some Morgan/Garcia banter! Penelope is so fun to write! I love Garcia; she's the heart of the team!_

_I want to thank those of you who put my story on alert. I'm really excited because it's my first one! I am, however, a little disappointed that no one reviewed! :( Just a little blurb about what you like/dislike, I'm dying to know what people think!_

* * *

"No passion so effectually robs the mind of all its powers of acting and reasoning as fear." -Edmund Burke

* * *

The team was sitting around a table in the Evansville Police Department building in a room very similar to their own conference room in Quantico. They'd already made introductions with the local department. The lead detective on the case was a stern gray-haired woman named Sandra Baxton. Her department was overwhelmed; they'd never dealt with so many missing persons cases at one time. It was just recently when they'd made the connection that a missing woman from Illinois and another from Kentucky could be related to their cases.

One thing the Evansville police knew was that these women had not left on their own accord; no one would willingly drop their lives the way in which they had. One woman left behind her child, these cases were definitely connected.

"So where do we start?" Detective Baxton asked Gideon.

"Victimology. Why did our unsub choose the women he did? What is their significance to him?" he stated.

"We have reason to believe our unsub sees these women as someone from his own life; the women look similar, they're all brunette, and they're all under five foot four inches tall." added Reid.

"This is true, it is very common for offenders to choose people who favor the looks of someone important to them." said Hotch.

"This is all very good, let's put what we know about the victims up on the board." said Gideon.

Miguel read the first victim's file aloud: "Ana Thomas was abducted in the Evansville Wal-Mart parking lot six weeks ago. She's a twenty-year-old cosmetologist. She was reported missing by her fiancé Damon Piers when she didn't come home after running her usual errands. She is the mother of a two-year-old son named Carson."

Brandie wrote some of the important details about Ana on the board. "Well we know she just didn't up and leave, her car was left at the Wal-Mart, plus she has a family at home."

Jared read the next file: "Jenna Roberts, twenty-five, an elementary school teacher, went missing about two weeks after Ana Thomas. She lives in New Haven, Illinois. She was reported missing when she failed to show up for work two days in a row. She lives alone, so no one really knows when exactly disappeared, but neighbors said they saw her leave on a jog, but never saw her return."

"New Haven is a little over half an hour from here," supplied Detective Baxton, "but it's likely she was taken by the same man because she looks so similar to the other missings."

"Could be a strategy to throw us off." said Hotch. He continued, "So based on the first two victims, what can we already conclude?"

"The victims seem unconnected, they most likely didn't know each other or the unsub beforehand." said Morgan.

"It seems our unsub chose his hostages at random, seeing women who look like the object of his fixation and he kidnaps them if he can do so easily." added Ben.

"I agree, he targets women with the right look who he has easy access to, he doesn't plan ahead or stalk the women beforehand. All right next victim." said Gideon.

"We're back in Evanston again with Hope Williams, a seventeen-year-old whose parents reported her missing roughly ten days after Jenna. Her car was found in the public library's parking lot." Ben read aloud.

"Seventeen?" said Morgan incredulously.

"Yeah, but look at this picture, she looks older than that." replied Ben.

"I'll add a timeline to this board, showing the number of days between abductions." said Brandie.

Derek read the next file "Amanda Parker is a twenty-three-year-old personal trainer from Henderson, Kentucky. Her roommate Tara Simon reported her missing when she didn't come home after going grocery shopping. Tara investigated on her own and she found Amanda's car in the grocery store parking lot with groceries lying haphazardly next to it, and saw that one of the side mirrors was smashed and had blood and hair on it."

"Again our unsub went out of state to abduct another woman." stated Hotch.

"When did she disappear?" asked Brandie.

"Sorry, um, nine days ago." reported Morgan.

Reid read the last file with a shaky voice; he was not a comfortable speaking in front of a crowd. "The last victim, Sophia Martin was abducted at work last night. She was the only worker inside the convenience store she is a cashier at. She's nineteen and has lived in Evanston her entire life. She is a student at the University of Southern Indiana and lives with her father most of the time. On nights she doesn't work she stays with her mother, step-father, and younger sister at their house in Boonville. She was valedictorian in high school and…"

"Ok Reid, we just wanted the basics." Morgan cut him off.

"Oh, sorry." said Reid, defeated.

'Wow, she is really pretty! And she's smart too. I wish I could get a girl like that.' thought Reid. 'Wait what am I doing? This girl was kidnapped by an unsub who we were called in to catch. This is totally inappropriate!'

"We watched the store's surveillance video of this earlier." Reid mentioned as an afterthought.

"Hey, we should call Garcia to see if she's made much headway analyzing the video." said Morgan.

"Good idea!" said Brandie as she sat back down at the table.

"Hello my sexy chocolate god, what can I do you for?" quipped Penelope over the phone.

"Careful Baby girl, you're on speakerphone!" replied Morgan with a smirk on his face.

"Hola, amigos!" said the perky blonde addressing the whole team, "Wutcha need?"

Hotch asked, "Were you able to figure out our unsub's height and approximate weight?"

"Yes sir! I used the Digital Perspective Analysis Rendering program I helped create to figure out his height and approximate weight. And you better believe I did more than that in the time you gave me!" she laughed, then continued, "Mr. Meanie is six foot two, two-hundred-and-fifty pounds. And judging by the fact that you can't see any hair poking out from underneath that really ugly and super creepy ski mask, I'd say he's either bald or has really short hair. Sounds scary right?"

"Great, now search through previous offenders in the area who have a similar description." said Gideon.

"I already did that my friends, you usually ask me to do that. You've gotta work on not being so predictable!" answered Garcia in a teasingly.

"Well did you find anyone?" asked Ben.

"Several, but I've narrowed it down. I think I may have already found your unsub!" said Garcia excitedly.

"Wow Baby girl, are you sure you aren't a profiler?" asked Morgan.

"My tag says I'm a technical analyst but I like to refer to myself as a technical goddess!" she replied.

"That you are, Penelope, that you are. So tell us about this potential unsub, what makes you think you've got him?" said Derek.

"Well his name is Charlie Marshall, thirty-four years of age. He's six foot two, bald, and he's pretty hefty. He definitely looks like the guy on the surveillance video. Marshall is unemployed and his last job ended about two months ago, about two weeks before the first girl went missing. Now here's the kicker… wait for it! Bam! You know that whole 'being a previous offender' thing, well there's a woman named Carrie Armstrong who claims he was stalking her and that he even assaulted her. She filed a restraining order against him a few years back and eventually had to leave the area because it got so bad. She lives in Indianapolis now. Carrie looks a whole lot like the missing girls. So does this sound like your creep or what?"

"Very likely, we need to check him out right away." said Gideon.

"So do I win a prize?" asked Garcia playfully.

"We'll see. Good job. Keep digging!" said Hotch.

"You did amazing Mama! Call back if you find anything else." said Morgan.

"Will do, I've already forwarded you everything that I know right now." said Garcia.

"Bye, Baby girl."

"Toodle-loo, My Sweet!"

ILoveCriminalMinds!ILoveCriminalMinds!ILoveCriminalMinds!ILoveCriminalMinds!

Sophia was sitting on a threadbare mattress in a barren room with no windows and a locked door. Her head was pounding. The door opened. The man who had kidnapped her walked in, he was no longer wearing the ski mask.

"What do you want from me?" she asked quietly.

"Carrie will you dance with me?"

She tried to back away from him. He grabbed her roughly, pulling her to her feet. This fast motion made her head swim. Sophia spit in her captor's face.

He shook her, "If you won't dance with me, I won't feed you."

She thought he would have tried to kill her, or at least rape her. 'He wants to dance with me? What's with this guy?' She was still terrified of him though, he was about a foot taller than her, and he probably weighed at least twice as much as she did.

"I SAID DANCE WITH ME CARRIE!" he yelled.

"MY NAME ISN'T CARRIE YOU TWISTED FREAK!" she yelled back.

He hit her, she fell to the floor.

"Alright!" she said through the sobs.

He held her close and made her dance with him as he mumbled the lyrics of REO Speedwagon's "Keep on Lovin' You".

* * *

"Almost nobody dances sober, unless they happen to be insane." -H. P. Lovecraft

* * *

_I just love that scene in Psychodrama where Hotch wants Garcia to figure out the unsub's height and he doesn't know what the program is called!_

_I hope you're enjoying this! Review Please! _


	4. Uncovering the Truth

_This chapter is really long (it's probably the longest one this story will have) so I hope you're satisfied. _

_There's more of Reid :), lotsa Garcia :), and Hotch and Morgan are also pretty prominant. (Everything a true CM fan could ask for, right?) _

_I want to thank those of you who reviewed or put my story on alert. I really appreciate the support! _

_I don't own Criminal Minds (or Burger King)._

_The following quote really isn't significant to this chapter, but it describes or Dr. Reid to a "T"!_

* * *

"Every true genius is bound to be naive." -Friedrich Schiller

* * *

"We need to check out this Charlie Marshall," started Gideon. "Hotch; you, Brandie, and Ben go to his last place of employment, Eddie's Auto Repairs, talk to his boss, and find out anything you can on him. Miguel and Jared go to his house, find out how he lives. He's probably not there; he needs a place to keep five women locked up. Be careful just in case he is home. That means wear your vests, he may or may not be armed, but it's better to be safe than sorry. Call back if you have anything to report."

The agents left and went to the places Gideon had asked them to go.

"So what are we doing here?" asked Morgan impatiently.

"We wait until we have more information. If Marshall is our unsub, we still don't know where he is keeping the women." he replied.

"He'd need a large, secluded building. Nearby neighbors would hear the women screaming for help." supplied Reid.

"That's true, why don't you look into buildings in the Evansville area that he could be utilizing." Gideon told Reid.

ILoveCriminalMinds!ILoveCriminalMinds!ILoveCriminalMinds!ILoveCriminalMinds!

Penelope was in her office, a huge grin on her face that wouldn't subside. She was so proud of herself, Charlie Marshall _had_ to be the unsub. Immediately after she had gotten off the phone with the team she had rewarded herself with a celebratory 'happy dance.' Then she was all business once again, delving further into Marshall's life.

After high school, Charlie hadn't gone to college, instead working in a scrap metal warehouse owned by his father. He worked there until about five years ago when Henry Marshall had closed it down. Then Charlie did odd jobs, none of them lasting more than six months. It appeared he had tried to put his life back together, taking classes to become a mechanic while he worked in fast food. He had been hired by Eddie Brown who owns an auto repair shop. Things appeared to have been going well until Marshall had been fired about two months ago.

Garcia decided to give his father, Henry Marshall, a call; she'd retrieved his phone number using her mega-hacking skills. After closing his warehouse, Henry and his wife Elizabeth had moved to Florida, and from their financial records at least, they appeared to be enjoying their retirement. Now when she needed to sound serious and mature, Garcia couldn't wipe the giddy smirk off of her face. She bit into her bottom lip; now it was throbbing and the stupid smile was rendered incapable of returning.

"Henry Marshall?" started the blonde analyst over the phone.

"You're talking to him. Who's this?" replied the older man.

"My name is Penelope Garcia. I'm the technical analyst for the Behavioral Analysis Unit of the F.B.I."

"F.B.I.? What's this about?" asked Henry, sounding perplexed.

"I need some information about your son, Charlie." replied Garcia.

"Oh." He didn't sound surprised, but Penelope could detect a change in the man's tone.

"We think he may have kidnapped five women." said Garcia gently.

"Are you sure?" asked the man on the other end of the phone call.

"It's very likely," she replied. "That's why I called you. We need more background information on him."

"What do you need to know?" he sighed heavily.

"Well, we think Charlie is doing this because of Carrie Armstrong. She has a restraining order against him, and the missing women look just like her." she said.

"I'm so sorry. I feel like I failed as a parent. He hasn't…. Charlie didn't kill anyone right?" he asked worriedly.

"No, Mr. Marshall, he hasn't killed yet. At least we don't know of any murders yet. It's not your fault, you didn't do anything wrong sir." replied Garcia. She really didn't know how to respond; the man seemed on the verge of a complete mental breakdown. "Can you tell me anything about Charlie and Carrie's interactions? What made him stalk her, how did he meet her?"

"They went to high school together. He asked her to prom, Carrie rejected him." he answered. His breathing had returned to normal. He continued, "I tried to convince Charlie to ask someone else out. He seemed so stuck on her. He was so broken up about it that he didn't even go to the senior prom. Then he seemed really depressed. His life sort of fell apart."

"How do you mean?" Garcia asked.

"Well he didn't follow through with any of his plans. He didn't go to college; he just worked in my warehouse. He lived at home." answered the father.

"I understand that you closed down the warehouse a few years ago." said Garcia. "Now the building is empty, why didn't you hand your business down to your son?"

"Well like I said before, Charlie's life fell apart and he didn't even try to advance financially or romantically. He was stuck on Carrie. After he was arrested and she filed a restraining order on him, it got worse. He had to be put on antidepressants and see a psychiatrist regularly. I really wanted him to continue the business, but I knew he just wouldn't be able to. My son never got into the business administration aspect of it. He never had an office; instead he opted to operate the forklift and work in the warehouse."

"So when you closed the warehouse down and retired, you had pretty much given up on him." said Garcia. "Wait, that came out a little harsh, I'm sorry."

"And you wonder why I blame myself." he took a deep breath. "I was sixty and business wasn't booming. Frankly I was tired and ready for a change of pace."

"So what happened with Charlie when you closed down?" asked Garcia.

"We put quite a bit of money in his account, to make sure he could provide for himself." Henry started. "We made sure he had a good rental home and that he had a job that he could be good at. He still has the rental house, but he's changed jobs several times."

"It seems like he was doing pretty well for himself when he went to school to be a mechanic." said Garcia encouragingly.

"We were very proud of him. He went to night school while he worked at Burger King. He paid for it by himself. Right after he was certified, he got a job at Eddie's. That's where I always had my cars worked on. Eddie knew about Charlie and was kind enough to let him on."

"Do you know what got him fired?" asked Garcia hopefully.

"Not really. All I know is that he had screwed up before and Eddie gave him a second chance, but he had no choice when Charlie did it again. I think maybe he was using the cars for himself or something like that. My wife and I are worried, he still hasn't got a new job." he replied.

"Thank you so much Mr. Marshall. I know all this must be hard for you. I'll let you know more when they bring him in." said Penelope.

"Thank you Penelope, as I said before, I wish it wasn't him. I should have done more to prevent something like this from happening. But I'm glad I was able to help stop him." said Henry.

"Please don't blame yourself, even if you don't think so, I guarantee that our discussion really did help. We now know why he did what he did. Like I said, I'll keep you informed." said Garcia.

"Thank you, ma'am. Good luck." he replied.

"I'm sure my team will be able to apprehend him. Good-bye sir." said Garcia.

"Bye." said Henry, ending the phone call.

ILoveCriminalMinds!ILoveCriminalMinds!ILoveCriminalMinds!ILoveCriminalMinds!

"What can I do for you fine people on this fine day?" the gray-haired, disheveled-looking man asked as the BAU agents approached.

"Are you Eddie Brown?" asked Hotch.

"Yes sir, I am." he replied.

"My name is Agent Hotchner, and these are agents Harper and Wilson." said Hotch as the three showed the man their credentials. "We are from the Behavioral Analysis Unit of the F.B.I. We're here to ask you a few questions about a former employee of yours, a Charlie Marshall?"

"I fired him a couple months back, what do you need to know?" asked the auto shop owner.

"We believe he's kidnapped five women." began Brandie.

"Whoa, I don't know anything about any kidnappings!" Eddie said quickly, holding his arms up trying to prove his innocence.

"We're not accusing you of any wrongdoing." said Hotch. "We just need to know more about him."

"Oh, said Brown calmly. "Well I've known him for a long time. His father, Henry Marshall, has been coming to me since I opened this place."

"So when you hired him, you thought you were doing a sort of favor for Henry?" asked Ben.

"Yeah, I guess you could call it that, I mean Charlie was certified. It's just that he had been arrested before. I thought it might be hard for him to get a job. And his dad was such a loyal customer until he moved away." said Eddie.

"Well what happened?" asked Hotch, "What made you fire him?"

"Charlie was a pretty good mechanic, he did a real good job working on the cars." started Brown, "But he completely lacks social skills. He kept to himself and he didn't communicate with customers real well, ya'know-what-I-mean?" he strung the words together.

"I understand, but what made you fire him?" asked Hotch again.

"Oh, well he really liked cars, and once he took a '67 Shelby Mustang for a joy-ride." said Brown. "I gave him a good talking-to afterwards. I suspended him without pay for two weeks. I also made it pretty apparent that if he did it again he would be fired on the spot."

"So I'm assuming he did it again…?" said Hotch.

"Yes, he took a brand new corvette around for a spin. I had to fire him, even though he was a great mechanic, he had defied me. I had to stand behind my word." said Eddie, "Turns out he'd been stealing equipment and tools too, as we'd discovered after he left."

"Did he happen to take a socket wrench?" Matthews asked, remembering the tool that the unsub had used to knock out the last victim on the video.

"Maybe, I didn't make a list or anything." replied Brown.

"Thank you Mr. Brown, I think we're done here." said Hotch.

"You're welcome, I'm glad I could help. Good luck catching that Son of a Bitch!" he called after the agents.

ILoveCriminalMinds!ILoveCriminalMinds!ILoveCriminalMinds!ILoveCriminalMinds!

At the Evansville Police Station, Gideon, Morgan, and Reid all received a phone call at the same moment. All three of their phones rang at the same time. Morgan was laughing when he answered his. Reid and Gideon were smiling.

"Hello?" they said, practically in unison.

Garcia had called Derek to tell him about her phone call with Marshall's father. Rodriguez had called Gideon to tell him about their findings at Marshall's house. And Reid had received a call from Hotch about meeting with Eddie Brown. Hotch would have called Gideon, but at the last second he had decided to call Reid, he wanted the youngest profiler to feel important and included.

When they were all off their phones, the profilers shared what they had learned from their phone calls.

Gideon started, "That was Rodriguez, he said that Marshall wasn't home and that it looked like he hadn't been in a while. Mail piled up in the mailbox, lawn un-mown."

After the older profiler was finished, Reid began, "Hotch called me, Marshall was fired for taking cars to go 'joyriding'. He also stole equipment from the auto shop. Hotch said Charlie's boss described him as a diligent worker who really lacked social skills."

Spencer thought to himself: 'That's scary; people might describe _me _that way.'

Morgan began, "Garcia called me, she talked to Henry Marshall, Charlie's father. He and Carrie Armstrong went to high school together. He asked her to prom, but was rejected. The father said that after this, Charlie's life spiraled out of control. He decided not to go to college and he had to be put on a prescription for depression. Marshall worked for his father and didn't really have any goals; he lived at home with his parents. After the father closed down and retired to Florida, Marshall bounced from job to job, sometimes having to live off of money from his parents. During this time, he was arrested for stalking and assaulting Carrie. I guess he got his act together when she moved away because he went back to school and became a certified mechanic."

"So did your analyst uncover anything about a place where he might be keeping these women?" asked Detective Sandra Baxton.

"I guess if the warehouse his father owned is still vacant, he might be using it." supplied Morgan.

Reid consulted the map he had in front of him, "The warehouse looks pretty desolate, it's empty and there really isn't anything nearby."

"It's very probable that this is where Marshall is keeping the hostages. I want you two to go check it out. If you find anything or anyone, call me right away. I'll send the rest of the team to meet you there, but they're coming from the opposite direction, so you'll beat them to it." said Gideon.

"Just the two of us?" asked Reid nervously. Gideon nodded. "It's just, I haven't done much field work yet, and I can't even carry a firearm, and…"

"Stop your whining! We'll be fine, Gideon, don't worry." said Derek.

"Be cautious and wear your vests. Call if there's trouble, like I said the team will meet you there." said Gideon.

Jason pulled Derek aside, "Watch out for Spencer, he really needs this field experience, and he might not be all that ready for it just yet. And try not to tease him so much, you might be really undermining his confidence."

Morgan and Reid set off in the direction of the derelict building. Spencer was fidgeting in the passenger seat.

'You can do this. Nothing is going to happen. Morgan knows what he's doing. Plus the rest of the team will be right behind us. You can do this, you can do this.' The self-assurances weren't helping; the young agent was a bundle of nerves.

* * *

"History is indeed little more than the register of the crimes, follies and misfortunes of mankind." -Edward Gibbon

* * *

_Please Review! :)_


	5. More Hostages

_Thanks for all the positive responses this has been recieving. It boosts my confidence more than you'd imagine! _

_Here's where the story starts to get really, really good!_

* * *

"To save all we must risk all." -Friedrich Schiller

* * *

The SUV driven by Derek Morgan pulled up the warehouse.

"Let's go check it out." says Morgan as he gets out of the SUV.

Reid just nodded, he opened the passenger door with a shaky hand.

Morgan notices this, "Reid, you've gotta calm down man!"

"I know, I'm sorry." he replies, "But come on, are you telling me you weren't nervous on your first time out in the field?"

"Not really, remember I was a cop in Chicago before I joined the bureau." said Morgan.

"Well then I'm sure you were anxious on your first day as a cop." said Reid triumphantly.

"I don't remember being all that nervous, I was pretty excited; my dad was a cop too. I was following in his footsteps." replied Morgan.

"Just forget it, I'm anxious; it's only natural. Besides, I'm not you!" said Reid.

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Derek, amused.

"I'm not cocky and assertive." explained Reid.

"I can see that, pretty boy." teased Morgan, "Come on, let's get this over with."

As the agents approach a side door, they notice an old Chevy truck. From where it was parked, it would be concealed from the road if anyone happened to drive by, which was unlikely. The license plate said 'CMRSHLL.'

"Looks like we have the right scumbag." said Morgan when he saw the plate.

Reid just nodded, his mouth was dry.

They looked in some windows, but they were too dirty to see through.

Derek walked over to the door, "Ready?"

"What are you doing? We should wait for the team!" Reid's voice was high-pitched, as it tended to be when he was worked up.

"Calm down Pretty Boy, you'll scare him away! We have to go in now, we still don't know if he's here or if the women are even inside." reasoned Morgan.

"I really think we should wait for the others." said Reid, indignant.

"What if the hostages are inside? Who knows what the twisted bastard could be doing to them right now!" said Morgan.

"All right." said Reid. He knew he couldn't talk Morgan out of it. 'This has a huge potential to end badly.' he thought.

Morgan took out his gun. He kicked the door in, shouting, "Charlie Marshall! F.B.I.! Come out and show yourself!"

They heard a crashing sound. The agents had entered a large space, the main warehouse part of the building. It was dark, except for a light at the other end which was coming from a hallway. A woman's voice could be heard; her yells for help incomprehensible.

Morgan looked Reid in the eyes, "This is the real deal now; we need to split up."

"Why can't we wait for the team?" Reid pleaded, fear in his voice.

"There isn't time for that now. The hostages are in this building!" Morgan reasoned.

"And so is the unsub!" cried Spencer.

"Man up, Reid. You're an F.B.I. agent for God's sake!" said Morgan, agitated. "Here take this." He pulled a second gun out from his ankle holster.

"Who are you, Hotch?" Reid said.

"Come on, we need to do this." said Morgan.

"I can't carry a weapon, I didn't pass the qualification!" said Reid. He knew he had to be brave, the hostages needed his help, but he just wasn't ready for this.

"It doesn't matter now Reid, you're wasting time." Morgan said, thrusting the gun into his hands, "You go down that hall. I'm going to see what's behind that door." He gestured in the opposite direction. "Good luck."

ILoveCriminalMinds!ILoveCriminalMinds!ILoveCriminalMinds!ILoveCriminalMinds!

Spencer hurried over to the hallway. He came to the first door. The door to the office-turned-cell was locked. He called inside it "Is there anyone in here? F.B.I.!"

"Yes! My name is Jenna Roberts, this guy has been holding me here for more than a month." was the reply.

"Ok Jenna, my name is Spencer Reid, I'm an F.B.I. agent. I need you to stand back; I'm going to kick the door in."

Reid wasn't sure he would actually be able to kick the door in. He knew he could pick the lock, but he didn't have a good tool with him and it was time-consuming. 'I'm not Morgan, I _know _he can do this. I've got to at least try!' he thought. He backed up to the opposite wall, his heart was pounding, he didn't think he could do this.

Just as Reid was about to give it his best effort, something made him stop abruptly.

Someone had grabbed him by his hair and had thrown him against the wall. Spencer brought the gun up and faced Charlie Marshall. He choked; he couldn't bring himself to shoot the man. Charlie pulled the gun roughly out of his hands.

Marshall shoved Reid and sent him sprawling into the opposite wall, face first. Spencer could feel a warm, sticky substance spurting from his nose. Blood.

Marshall held the gun to Reid's head; he made the young profiler hand over his cell phone. "You have anything else? Any other weapons?"

"No." Reid replied shortly, blood was gushing down his face and his eyes were watering. 'Why am I always right?' he thought, recalling his earlier hesitation to even enter the building.

The unsub grabbed Reid by the ear and dragged him down the hall to one of the doors. He uses a key to unlock the door and pushes Reid into the room beyond it. Reid is practically thrown into the room, and he struggled to remain upright. The door was slammed and locked behind him.

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Morgan crossed the dark warehouse and approached the door slowly, gun and flashlight drawn. He turned the handle and realized he'd found Marshall's 'headquarters.'

This back room housed a refrigerator, a bed, a table and a chair. It was what was on the table that validated all of the team's suspicions. There were five TV screens, each one showing a small room with a woman inside. The offices down the hall that Morgan had sent Reid down had been turned into cells for the prisoners.

Morgan was glad; Garcia had been right about everything. And the women in the rooms appeared to be relatively unhurt. He was also disappointed; he was expecting Marshall to be in this room. Either he wasn't here at all, or much worse, he was.

'What if that Son of a Bitch finds Reid first? He's way too inexperienced, the boy can't take on an unsub alone.' With that thought he sprinted out of the room, back into the dark warehouse. Morgan heard a door slam. The sound came from the hallway Reid was in. Morgan ran towards the hall.

Charlie cut through the old break room for the former warehouse employees. He entered directly into the main warehouse part of the building. That's when he saw the other F.B.I. agent. Marshall was in way over his head. He had the skinny agent's gun, but he was afraid to use it. He hadn't killed anyone, yet.

The attack came from behind. Morgan was out cold before he knew what had hit him.

Marshall ran forward and hit the muscular agent in the back of the head with the gun he had taken from Reid.

Charlie dragged Morgan's unconscious body across the room and back into his 'lair.' He searched the agent's pockets and took away his cell phone. He also found a pair of handcuffs which he used to affix the man to the table leg. Morgan wasn't going to be going anywhere.

* * *

"Courage is the art of being the only one who knows you're scared to death." -Harold Wilson

* * *

_I hope you're enjoying reading this as much as I enjoy writing it!_

_Please review! _


	6. Banter

_Now for the romance part! Yay! Lotsa Spencer! Bigger YAY!_

_Thank you for all the support, reading your comments makes me feel loved!_

_I don't own Criminal Minds, Jeopardy!, or REO Speedwagon's Keep On Lovin' You. (Wouldn't it be weird if I did?)_

* * *

"There are some things you can't share without ending up liking each other." -J. K. Rowling

* * *

Sophia had been lying on the mattress in her cell when she heard the voices. She was lying with her eyes closed, daydreaming about home, desperately trying to block out the harsh reality. She stood up and walked over to the door, putting her ear up to it. Sophia could hear shouting, not the usual cries from the other female hostages, but other voices; male voices.

She couldn't make out what was being said, but the voices were unmistakably male. This brought about a surge of hope inside of her, 'It could be someone here to save us; a police officer.' But then another thought crossed her mind: 'It might be the son-of-bitch's partner.'

Sophia heard a key turning in the lock of the door she was leaning against. She ran to the opposite wall, distancing herself from her captor who'd surely be behind the door. The door flew open. Her captor pushed a tall, lanky young man into the room. The door was then slammed and locked once again.

Sophia took in the man's appearance. She needn't have worried, he was on her side. The F.B.I. vest told her that. She looked at his face; he seemed much too young to be an F.B.I. agent. And his nose appeared to be broken, there was blood everywhere.

"Are you okay?" she asked as she led him over to the mattress. They both sat down.

"I'll be fine, it's nothing," said Reid. He saw the unbelieving look on her face, "Really!"

"Are you sure?" asked the concerned college student.

"Yeah, I don't even think it's broken. It only looks bad because there's so much blood." said Reid, trying to reassure her. "I've had much worse."

"What do you mean?" asked the girl.

"Oh, I was bullied in school." he replied nonchalantly.

"I'm sorry to hear that. How bad was it?" she said as she handed the agent a towel for his bleeding nose.

"Pretty bad, though I don't think any bullying is ever good…" he sort of chuckled, "I guess it's to be expected when you're the only twelve-year-old in high school."

"What? You were in high school at twelve?" Sophia asked awestruck.

"Yeah, I actually graduated when I was twelve." replied Reid.

"So how old are you now, if you don't mind my asking? You look too young to be in the F.B.I." said Sophia.

"I'm 23. And you're right, I'm pretty new. I think I might have set a record for youngest agent or something." said Spencer.

"So what do you do for the F.B.I.?" she asked.

"I'm a profiler for the Behavioral Analysis Unit, we try to figure out why offenders do what they do. My name is Dr. Spencer Reid, by the way." he paused. "Oh, you don't have to call me doctor or anything." he said quickly, embarrassed.

"Wait, you're a doctor? And you graduated high school at twelve? You must be some kind of genius or something!" said Sophia awestruck.

"Or something." said Reid quietly, "Yeah, I have an I.Q. of 187, an eidetic memory, and I can read twenty thousand words a minute. I hold three PhD's."

"Wow…" started Sophia, but she was quickly cut off by the young profiler.

"I'm so sorry Sophia, here I am going on and on about myself when you've been violently abducted then held hostage here for two days." said Reid, saying about a million words a minute.

"I'm fine, really, all things considered. How'd you know my name, Spencer? Can I call you Spencer?" replied Sophia.

"I know a lot about you, we do this thing called victimology, we've compiled details about you to try to figure out why you were taken." explained Reid. "Your name is Sophia Martin, you're nineteen, a student at USI, your parents are divorced, and you were valedictorian in high school. Oh, you can call me Spencer if you want, most people call me Reid."

"Wow Spencer, it's kind of scary that you know all that about me." replied Sophia.

"It's all part of my job." He searched her beautiful face. "Are you sure you're okay? That looks like a pretty nasty black eye."

"It doesn't hurt much anymore; he did that to me when I wouldn't dance with him. What all do you know about this man who kidnapped me?" said Sophia.

"His name is Charlie Marshall. We believe he's kidnapped five women who look like an unreciprocated love interest named Carrie Armstrong." Reid began.

"So that's why he called me Carrie…" said Sophia.

"Yeah, Charlie asked her to prom but she rejected him. Then he started stalking her. It eventually got so bad that she had to file a restraining order against him and move away." said Spencer.

"But why kidnap me and the others? What's the point." asked Sophia.

Reid replied, "He used you as substitutions for what he couldn't have himself. Apparently not being able to date Carrie turned Marshall's life upside-down. He abandoned his plan to go to college and lived with his parents until they retired to Florida. After that he bounced from job to job and had pretty severe depression. Two months ago he lost his job at an auto repair shop and then women in the area started going missing."

"You did a pretty good job summing that up, Spencer." Sophia laughed. "So his name is Charlie. Carrie rejected him as a prom date eh? I guess that explains why he made me dance to 'Keep on Lovin' You'."

"Well Marshall is thirty-four, he would have been in high school in the eighties, when that song was popular." laughed Reid.

"Hey it looks like you've finally stopped bleeding." Sophia remarked as she took the towel away from Reid's face. "So Mr., I mean Dr. Genius, you must be pretty good at trivia, huh?"

"I guess you could say that, I'm always irritating my coworkers with useless facts and statistics." replied the profiler.

"You think maybe you could give Ken Jennings a run for his money?" joked Sophia.

"I enjoy watching 'Jeopardy!', but I wouldn't want to be on the show." replied Reid.

"Why not? Afraid you'll kick everyone's butt?" said Sophia.

"No, I don't think I'd be comfortable being on T.V. I'm pretty socially awkward if you haven't noticed." Reid smiled.

"You're such an interesting person, anyone can see that!" encouraged Sophia. "Ya know, your name really fits you!"

"How so?" asked Reid.

"Spencer. It's a nerdy name." she replied.

Reid's face sank. "Oh thanks!" he said dejectedly.

"No! That's a compliment. Nerdy is good! Really! I like nerds. I'm a big nerd myself!" she said reassuringly.

"Oh. What are you saying, Sophia?" asked Reid. "Are you saying you like me?"

"I don't know. Am I? Why don't you profile me Dr. F.B.I.!" she said playfully.

"How am I supposed to respond to that?" said Spencer, obviously flustered.

"I like you Spencer; you're not like most guys." Sophia replied.

Reid didn't have a chance to reply as Hotch's voice could be heard through a bullhorn, cutting off their conversation.

"Charlie Marshall, F.B.I.! We know you have hostages in this building. Turn yourself in so no one gets hurt!"

* * *

"A very small degree of hope is sufficient to cause the birth of love." -Henri B. Stendhal

* * *

_I am a huge trivia fan, so I watch Jeopardy every day! Remember this story is set in 2004, so Ken Jennings was big news then. I brought up Jeopardy for 2 reasons: #1 I love it. #2 I saw a youtube video of Matthew (MGG, duh!) talking about Reid and how he thinks the Reid family would be good at Jeopardy. (No duh, Gube!)_

_Please Review! :)_


	7. Rescue

_The amount of positive reactions to this story is mind-boggling! I love you guys! This is the second-to-last chapter. There's 2 quotes at the beginning, none at the end. (When you get there, you'll understand why!)_

_I don't own Criminal Minds, durr!_

"In these matters the only certainty is that nothing is certain." -Pliny the Elder

"The only thing that makes life possible is permanent, intolerable uncertainty; not knowing what comes next." -Ursula K. LeGuin

* * *

Immediately after Morgan and Reid left the Evansville police station, Gideon called the other members of his team. He told both groups to head straight to the warehouse to meet Morgan and Reid, rather than come into the station. He gave them the address and instructed them to be wearing their vests when they arrived.

Gideon then called Morgan to see if they had been right; to see Marshall and the women were in the warehouse. Morgan didn't pick up. Jason then called Reid. Spencer didn't answer either.

"Damn it!"

He called Garcia, she picked up. "Whatcha need, sir?" asked the chipper analyst.

"Can you see if you can get any signal from Morgan and Reid's cell phones? They're not answering and I sent them into a building which may contain the unsub." he said.

"Okay. Uh…" she was typing rapidly. "I'm not receiving signal from either phone. They're both turned off. I can't even pinpoint their location." her voice was panic-stricken.

"I know where they are. Thanks Penelope." he hung up, not giving Penelope a chance to respond.

Gideon called Hotch and Jared again. He told them that it was likely something had gone wrong because Reid and Morgan hadn't reported back.

He didn't tell them that the reason why they hadn't gotten back was that the agents' phones were turned off. Gideon was trying to reassure himself that everything was going to be okay; it could after all just be some kind of technical glitch.

Jason pulled on his bulletproof vest and led four police cars to the scene.

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The SUV carrying Hotch, Brandie, and Ben reached the warehouse first. Rodriguez and Matthews were right behind them.

"That's their SUV." said Harper as he pointed.

"Okay, let's surround the building. I want two agents at each door." instructed Hotch.

The team got into position as the police cars pulled up. Brandie and Jared walked toward the door Morgan and Reid had entered through. They passed Marshall's truck.

"We're definitely in the right place." said Brandie.

Hotch watched Gideon step out of the car driven by Detective Baxon. He took in the older agent's worried expression.

"What's going on here, Jason?" asked Aaron.

"I think Marshall overpowered Morgan and Reid. Their phones are off." replied Gideon.

"Shit. They could be dead or at the very least disarmed." stated Hotch.

"Exactly." said Gideon with a grim face.

Sandra Baxon dispersed her officers, they each took up positions at doors following suit of the BAU agents.

Hotch grabbed a bullhorn from one of the police vehicles.

"_Charlie Marshall, F.B.I.! We know you have hostages in this building. Turn yourself in so no one gets hurt!"_

Marshall heard the amplified voice of an F.B.I. agent outside. Everything was spiraling out of control. He was going to be caught. After he had disarmed the two agents he barricaded all of the exterior doors. Charlie had begun pacing in the room containing the TV's. The older agent was still out cold on the floor. He looked at what he had stashed under the table. Marshall wasn't going to go without a fight.

He took the handcuffs off of Morgan; he wasn't going to be awake for a while yet.

ILoveCriminalMinds!ILoveCriminalMinds!ILoveCriminalMinds!ILoveCriminalMinds!

Reid heard Hotch's voice on the bullhorn.

"That's my team!" he explained to Sophia excitedly.

He stood up in anticipation; Sophia mimicked the agent's action.

The door suddenly flew open. Marshall was standing there with a gun in one hand, handcuffs in the other.

Reid instantly recognized the cuffs as Morgan's. 'Damn. Morgan is locked up too.' He had been so distracted by his conversation with Sophia that he forgot that Morgan was also in the building. 'I wonder if he's been flirting with another hostage.' Knowing Derek, he probably was.

Marshall handcuffed the pair together. He led Spencer and Sophia at gunpoint into the main warehouse.

"Stay here." he left and went through a doorway. Reid recognized this as the room Morgan had said he would check out. "Don't try anything, I have _two _guns and all the doors leading out are locked." called Marshall.

Spencer whispered to Sophia, "Would you happen to have a bobby pin on you?"

"No, now I wish I did!" was Sophia's hushed reply.

"If I had some kind of straight tool I could try and pick the lock on these cuffs." whispered Reid.

Marshall came back. He set a bundle down and went back into the room.

"What's that?" asked Sophia.

"No idea, but it's probably not something good." replied Reid.

Marshall returned. He was dragging a body behind him.

'Shit, that's Morgan.' thought Reid. He silently prayed that Derek was just unconscious, not dead.

Reid's thought was cut off by Gideon's voice calling from outside, "Marshall, we're coming in!"

Simultaneously, all the building's exterior doors flew open. Hotch, Gideon, Brandie, Ben, and Detective Baxton ran into the room where Marshall was keeping Reid, Sophia, and the unconscious Morgan.

"Charlie: drop the gun and whatever that is that you're holding. It's over." said Hotch.

"This is a bomb!" yelled Marshall.

* * *

_Cue dramatic music! Sorry no end quote, but I think it's more suspenseful this way!_

_Review! Pretty please? With cherries on top?_


	8. The End, a New Beginning

_Last Chapter! Thanks for coming along for the ride! I'm very proud of this story and I hope that it shows!_

* * *

"A hug is like a boomerang – you get it back right away" -Bil Keane

* * *

Reid and Sophia were directly in-between the BAU team and Charlie Marshall. He was facing her, with his back to Marshall. They were handcuffed together, his right hand to her left hand.

Gideon put his gun away in its holster and took a few tentative steps forward, separating himself from the rest of his team. He put his hand up, palms facing outward, in a non-threatening way. "Please, just come with us. No one needs to get hurt."

Marshall didn't know what to do. He was cornered, about to be taken in by the F.B.I. He brought the gun up and fired at the skinny agent in front of him who was wearing his vest. It had to be a head-shot. But Charlie had never fired a gun before and his aim was off.

The bullet ripped through Reid's left bicep and continued through to graze the top of Sophia's right shoulder.

The BAU team opened fire upon Marshall; he was dead before he even hit the floor.

Despite the pain they were in, Sophia and Spencer embraced. She leaned up and kissed him.

Gideon ran over to them. He used his key to remove their handcuffs and led them outside to waiting EMTs.

Hotch and Brandie went over to Morgan who was still out cold on the floor. "Tell the medics that we'll need a stretcher." called Brandie.

Miguel and Harper went down the hall to free the other inspected the bomb. "It's a fake." he said.

"You're sure?" asked Hotch.

"Yeah, it's just a prop, there's nothing mechanical on it."

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"Okay, I'll let the father know now." said Penelope as she hung up the phone. Gideon had just informed her of what had happened at the warehouse.

Garcia was crying. She always was quick to become over-emotional. This was a drawback in her line of work, but it was also a benefit. Seeing the horrible images that went across her computer screens and hearing details about people's murders always got to her. But her emotions also helped her sympathize with grieving family members of the victims.

Right now Penelope was sick with worry over Morgan, he had been knocked out by the unsub and had to be taken to the hospital. She was also emotional because now she had to call up that kindly elderly man again and confirm that his son was a monster. She also had to let him know that his only child was now dead.

Garcia hadn't an ounce of sympathy for Charlie; he had abducted five women and had injured two of her co-workers, her family members. But Penelope felt a deep compassion for Henry. He had done everything right, he and his wife raised their son to the best of their ability, but Charlie went down a dark path. Now the older man would have to bury the son that he had tried so hard to provide for.

She took a deep breath and picked up the phone.

"Hello?" said the voice on the other side.

"Henry Marshall? This is Penelope Garcia again…" she began.

He cut her off, "Did your team stop him?"

"Uh, yes. Yes they did." she started "Sir," Garcia's voice trailed off.

"What's wrong?" asked Henry. He had a sneaking suspicion that he didn't want to know.

"Are you sitting down, Mr. Marshall?" Penelope could feel the tears burning in her eyes.

"Yes, I am. What… what happened, Penelope?" the man said softly.

"We were right; it _was _Charlie who abducted the women. Two of our agents went out to your old warehouse to see if he was keeping the women there. He… Ch-Charlie overpowered them. Your son shot one of the agents. The team had no choice. They…" she broke down, sobbing.

"Oh." said Henry, chills running down his spine.

"Charlie is dead, sir. I'm sorry for your loss." Garcia spit out the words.

There was silence on the other end as the truth set in. "The agent Charlie shot… is he…?"

"Agent Reid will be okay." said Garcia reassuringly.

"I'm so sorry this happened." began Henry Marshall.

"It's not your fault. Your son was sick. But remember, he never killed anyone." said Penelope.

"Thank you for informing me." said Henry.

"I'm very sorry for loss." Garcia repeated.

"I… I need to be with Elizabeth right now, goodbye Penelope." Henry said, sounding lost.

"Goodbye." said Garcia.

Garcia went to the ladies' room to vomit. Afterward, she sat on the bathroom floor cross-legged, sobbing.

ILoveCriminalMinds!ILoveCriminalMinds!ILoveCriminalMinds!ILoveCriminalMinds!

Jenna Roberts, Ana Thomas, Amanda Parker, and Hope Williams were reunited with their families at the hospital. They were checked over by the hospital staff, but not one of them had to be kept overnight. They were black and blue with various bruises, but none of the four women had serious injuries. The ones who had been kept the longest had lost weight, but the four were mainly just suffering from homesickness.

Jason Gideon, Aaron Hotchner, Brandie Wilson, Jared Matthews, Ben Harper, Miguel Rodriguez, Sophia Martin, and her father, Randy, were sitting in the hospital's waiting room.

Sophia had gotten her graze-wound stitched up and a doctor had checked her out. She wasn't ready to go home, she _had_ to see Spencer and she wanted to meet Morgan. Derek was awake now, but he had a pretty serious concussion and needed to stay overnight. Spencer was treated for his gunshot wound and would need to stay overnight too.

The group was reflecting on their day. The team had pestered Sophia about her and Reid's kiss. She revealed that she hoped to pursue a relationship with him and the team starting sharing stories, some rather embarrassing, about the young genius.

A doctor walked over to where they were sitting, "You're the F.B.I. team, right?" he asked. Gideon nodded. "You can go see Spencer now."

"I think Sophia should be the first to see him, he is her _boyfriend_ after all!" teased Ben to the great amusement of the BAU agents.

Dr. Sanders led Sophia to a door. Spencer was sitting up on his hospital bed, arm in a sling. He smiled when he saw her. "How are you?" he asked.

"I'm fine, how are you?" Sophia countered as she gave him an awkward sitting-down-and-only-using-one-arm hug.

"I've got to admit, getting shot is whole lot worse than anything I endured from school-time bullies." he laughed.

She smiled. "How's the nose, Spencer?" she asked. It was bruised and looked painful.

"I was right, it's not broken. But it does hurt quite a bit." he replied.

"I thought you said you could take it!" teased Sophia.

"Well it hurts more now than before, but it doesn't compare to my arm." said Reid.

"Oh, poor baby!" said Sophia before kissing his forehead.

Reid pulled her face down and took her lips in his.

"I was talking with your team out in the waiting room. Your job seems so interesting!" said Sophia.

"Don't tell me that you want to be a profiler too!" replied Reid worriedly.

"No, I'll stick to studying social work. That's what I want to do. Ideally I'd like to work as a child or family social worker, maybe in a school setting." explained the young woman.

"Good idea, you'd be much less likely to run afoul of kidnappers and serial killers that way!" said Spencer.

Sophia laughed, making Reid smile.

"So Dr. F.B.I., you work in Quantico, Virginia and go around the country helping law enforcement agencies track down criminals. You think maybe you could make some time for a girlfriend?" asked Sophia, hopefully.

"For you, I'd definitely make time." replied Spencer.

Sophia let out a girly squeal before kissing him again. When she pulled away, she said, "There's someone I'd like you to meet."

She returned a few minutes later with a middle-aged man with thinning hair.

"Dad, I'd like you to meet Spencer."

Sophia's father said, "Nice to meet you, I'm Randy Martin" as he shook Reid's good hand. "So you're the man who saved my daughter's life."

"Uhh.. No, I-I didn't do anything, my team…" Reid couldn't accept responsibility for saving anyone.

"Yes, you did Spencer, _you took a bullet for me!_" urged Sophia.

"I didn't stop that bullet" countered Reid.

"You did well enough. I'd give you an A-." quipped Sophia.

She turned to her father, "Dad, meet Dr. Spencer Reid, the man who saved my life. _The man I'm falling in love with_."

ILoveCriminalMinds!ILoveCriminalMinds!ILoveCriminalMinds!ILoveCriminalMinds!

Carrie Armstrong was in her kitchen, spoon-feeding her toddler son who was sitting in a high chair. Her husband had just left for work; he'd kissed her on the cheek on his way out. Carrie flicked on the TV to the local morning news.

"Today's top story is about a man named Charlie Marshall. He was suspected of kidnapping five women in the last month and a half. The Behavioral Analysis Unit of the F.B.I. was called in to find the perpetrator. They tracked him to an abandoned warehouse where Marshall shot one of the agents. Marshall was killed by the F.B.I. team. All of the women made it out alive and the agent who was shot did not receive any life-threatening wounds. We'll have more on this story later, when more details are made public."

Carrie dropped the spoon. "Oh My God!"

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"You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty." Mohandas Gandhi

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_It's over! ***cries***I'm hoping you enjoyed it! The reviews, alerts, favorites, and messages have been so great! Thanks for the support! :)_

_Here's a lil' ending: So about a month or so after this takes place is when the agents are killed in Boston. Reid was in a sling, so he didn't go the building with the others. After this case (my story) Morgan went down a bad path. He became slightly depressed and blamed himself for everything that had gone wrong. He had come to work drunk the day the BAU left for Boston. Gideon sent Morgan home and told him to pull himself together. This is why Derek sounded so regretful when in the first episode he replied to "Were you with him in Boston?" with "I was supposed to be." _

_I'm just making things up that make sense, sorta! LOL_

_Please Review my pretties! _


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